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Doubt has been cast on the ability of the government to meet its target of helping 30,000 disabled people into employment, following the scrapping of a controversial part of the New Deal for Disabled People programme, writes Sally Gillen.

The Association for Supported Employment, whose members work with the employment service to place and support disabled people at work, is calling for the tendering process for NDDP to be reopened.

Most of the organisation’s 200-plus members did not bid originally because they objected to part of the scheme. Consequently, they claim, the government is missing out on their specialist knowledge. But the part of the scheme to which they objected has now been scrapped.

Under original proposals every fifth disabled person who approached a supported employment organisation for the job broker service would have had their help deferred for a year, and be placed in a control group so that the government could compare the success of those who received the service against those who did not.

But serious concerns about the policy were raised by Afse members, who wrote to MPs including Hugh Bailey then minister for NDDP, arguing that it was unethical to deny immediate help to people who had sought it.

Donna Kenny, chairperson of Afse, said: "Most of us felt that it wasn’t ethical to turn people away. At one of the meetings I objected to senior civil servants, but was told that the only way the Treasury would release money for the scheme was if we used the control group. I was told in no uncertain terms that the government would not change its mind."

The NDDP is part of the government’s plan to reduce employment among disadvantaged groups under the neighbourhood renewal strategy. Disabled people are seven times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the population.

A spokesperson for the department for work and pensions said: "We won’t be retendering. The job broker service is now up and running. To reopen the tendering process would be too costly and cause disruption to clients. We are happy that we will be able to meet the target."

But Kenny said: "A lot of the good agencies, people with specialist knowledge, didn’t bid. It will be difficult for the government now to meet its target for getting disabled people into work."